Vander Esch’s rise at Boise State has a whole Idaho community cheering — and busing

For every Boise State football home game, as much as 5 percent of the population of Riggins rolls down the highway in a single bus.

They are eager to see one player in particular, whose last name is in foot-high letters on the front and side of the 40-foot machine: Leighton Vander Esch.

Former Boise State running back Jay Ajayi was nicknamed “J-Train,” but he doesn’t have a locomotive with his name on it. Let’s call it the Vander Esch Express, as hard to miss as the junior linebacker himself.

“We get a lot of thumbs-up and people honking at us on the road,” said Darwin Vander Esch, Leighton’s father and the bus driver.

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Anyone who wants to hop on the bus from Riggins, a town of 400 about 150 miles north of Boise, can do so for free. Darwin said he wanted to find a way to take people from the community to the games, and also use it to travel to road games.

Last year, he found the perfect option: a 25-year-old bus that was once used by Amtrak to take passengers from San Diego to Disneyland. After purchasing the bus “for a good price,” Darwin took out a few seats and made it into more than just a way to ferry fans.

“We took a few seats out, put in a couch, a stove, have some tables we can use,” he said. “It turned out pretty awesome.”

Blue and orange stripes are painted on the side, with “38 L. Vander Esch” in blue letters, and his last name and number on the front. On the side, there’s an image printed on a window of Vander Esch carrying the Hammer before a 2015 game. Darwin usually takes about a dozen people down for each game, but at times it has been twice that.

“It’s pretty cool to get that kind of support,” Leighton said. “That’s a great part of being from a small town, having pretty much the whole community cheering for you. It’s fun to see them after all the games.”

A look at the bus Leighton Vander Esch’s father purchased to take fans from Riggins to Boise State games.

Courtesy Darwin Vander Esch

The support would be there regardless, with the town having pride in seeing Vander Esch rise from 8-man football standout at Salmon River High to a scholarship player for Boise State. But now they are cheering on one of the nation’s best linebackers.

Vander Esch is No. 3 in the Football Bowl Subdivision with 36 tackles, including three sacks, and has added two forced fumbles and an interception. He was named a captain before the season began.

“I take great pride in it. I have to hold myself to a certain standard, and I know others do, too,” Vander Esch said. “It makes me want to work harder.”

That effort was there from the beginning, when he joined as a walk-on in 2014. He was a 6-foot-4, 215-pounder, self-described as “scrawny.” But he’s turned himself into a 240-pound tackling machine. Darwin said his son still has room to add more weight while staying athletic.

Sophomore safety DeAndre Pierce said when he first saw Vander Esch on a visit two years ago: “I heard he was a walk-on, and I was looking at that giant. I was like, ‘No way.’

“He’s a freak of nature. I’ve never seen somebody that big and that strong move that fast, jump that high. ... A one-of-a-kind player.

“It’s crazy to see his journey. I know how much he’s worked to come this far,” Pierce said.

Boise State linebacker Leighton Vander Esch makes an interception during the fourth quarter last week against New Mexico. “It felt like it took a year for that thing to come down,” Vander Esch said of the ball, a floater set up by a hit on New Mexico QB Coltin Gerhart by linebacker Gabe Perez.

Kyle Green kgreen@idahostatesman.com

Boise State’s roster has a handful of players like Pierce, who came from football factories like Long Beach (Calif.) Poly. But in its atypical way, Salmon River (which had a graduating class of 11 in May) helped produce someone of Vander Esch’s caliber.

“Definitely, I think it helped me,” Vander Esch said. “I played both sides of the ball. In basketball, that helped my footwork. I ran track and did the high jump. I’m a firm believer in playing as many sports as you can, and I’m glad I had that chance.”

Friday’s game against Virginia will be just the fourth start of Vander Esch’s career; he missed seven games last season as a backup due to injury. Add in the final two games of last season, in which he played after missing two months, and he’s averaged 10.2 tackles per game, with both of his career interceptions. And he’s just getting started.

“I’m sure there are things that he will tell you, that he’s made a lot of plays, but there are some things he can correct to make even more,” defensive coordinator Andy Avalos said.

In little Riggins, Vander Esch’s success looms as large as that 10-ton bus.

“The community is really excited,” his dad said. “He’s playing where he wanted to be since he was a little kid, and he gets to show other people what a small-town guy can do.”